May Day
by Coffee Craft
Summary: The other ledge begins to slowly loosen, and Drew swallows in anticipation. He considers reciting a prayer to Arceus to spare his life. It's not too late to look to spirituality, is it? -CS


**Gotta thank Glory for Sleep for this, otherwise, I probably won't have something to give you guys before I get swamped with college stuff. I tried to get something in earlier, but I was stumped until this happened.**

**It's been a while since I wrote in Drew's point of view. Apologies if my characterization is a little rusty. I've noticed I've been writing a lot of my stories in the present tense...maybe one of these days, I'll try out future tense!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Pokémon, I'd have better things to be doing than clowning around on this site…like doing my JOB.**

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Drew Hayden doesn't always take risks to prove himself, but there are situations where he feels inadequate and feels he must take a risk, and this is one of those times. Only if he makes a wrong move, it may cost him his life. He can't afford it, either, because the contest on the island is going to be in two days, and it's his opportunity to earn his fifth ribbon. He wishes he could take it all back because he holds his life dear, as a human does, but no one can save him now.

He can be such an _idiot_.

The challenge is straightforward as they come. Climb the mountain without the aid of his party Pokémon. Seems simple enough, but more difficult than it sounds. The natives here do not want trainers to become too dependent on their pokémon during their travels, which is why they brought upon this challenge to a trainer who visits the island, to decide if the trainer is truly worthy of being a trainer in the first place.

He can't help but peer down to see how far he's come along, and he has come far, but sometime during his climb he nearly slipped and then clung onto this tiny ledge before he fell down further. He's never voiced his fear of heights but the truth is he's terrified of them. It sounds pathetic, but he's just as human as the next guy, and he's allowed to have imperfections. His attitude needs adjusting, though, people may believe he is superior in all of the things he can do, which is true, given that he is quite skilled – exceedingly skilled – at anything he sets his mind to doing, but it is a different story when it comes to things he just _cannot _seem to be able to do. Most of the time, the fact that he can't excel in certain things is because of fear that he is unable to overcome. The great Drew Hayden, and fear? Blasphemous to put those words in one sentence…but there are certain things he is fearful of that he's not willing to admit. His fear of heights, for one. His fear of drowning is another. Once he can overcome the fear, though, there is no limit to what he can achieve, whether it's in one particular thing or in multiple things.

_I have to keep going. I have to. I have no choice. _

To give up now means giving up his career, and he can't have that, can he?

His feet feel for other smaller ledges for them to rest on as his free arm reaches for a higher ledge, and for a moment, he is at ease. He's getting somewhere. That is something to be proud of, to be sure!

His eyes skim for another ledge, and he catches one, but it appears to be out of his reach. He hisses, but sucks it up, because he has to, and attempts to stretch his other arm toward it. He manages.

He doesn't want to make a false judgment, but he must be getting close. He can feel it in his gut. And his gut instincts are correct.

Ninety-nine percent of the time, anyway!

His arms are going to fall off sometime in the next few minutes, though. He's surprised his knuckles haven't bled from the many times they've scraped the stones. Though they may eventually. Or they might be already and he just hasn't paid attention to it yet because he's focused on getting to the top.

He reaches for another ledge, which ends up being a loose stone, and he loses grip of it and lets it fall to the ground. He hasn't lost his balance, which is a good sign.

Skimming for another ledge to grab onto, he can't find one, and he realizes he's stuck…Now what to do?

He grips onto one of the ledges he's been holding loosens, and his hand slips off of it. The ledge is about to slide out of its place and Drew's life really is uncertain now. He doesn't know what else he can do, he just needs to find a way to improvise…he always does. Maybe if he can reach for his gear without losing grip on this ledge, he has a chance.

A wrong move means the end of his life as he knows it, though.

"I got to have something," he says to himself, reaching for his travel bag. He winces in pain when he moves his arm the wrong way, but gets over the pain because his concentration remains completely on finding something. It's his ticket up the mountain in one piece.

_Alive_!

"Rats…" he says a moment later after rummaging through his things. "I must have not brought it with me. My conscious is not going to let me live this one down if I make it out alive. I bet May's smart enough to remember decent gear."

The other ledge begins to slowly loosen, and Drew swallows in hesitant anticipation. He considers reciting a prayer to Arceus to spare his life. It's not too late to look to spirituality, is it?

Drew sighs. This is _hopeless_.

"All I wanted was to train myself a bit…you know, be disciplined. But at stakes like this, who would be bright enough to take this challenge? I mean, what other reason would the natives make it _mandatory _that you do this before you can leave the island? I know if this was optional, I wouldn't have been stupid enough to do it," he ponders his musing for a moment, and then shakes his head. "No…I'd probably still take the challenge because I. Am. An. _Idiot_."

He tries to steady his grip on the loose ledge. "I wonder how many deaths this island's taken responsibility for."

"You got that right, you're an idiot if you're bright enough to talk to be talking to yourself when your life could end at any given moment," a voice from below calls out to him. "And why, yes! Believe it or not, I am smart enough to carry proper gear, because it's essential to climb up a mountain, you know! And to answer your last question, surprisingly few!"

Drew's head snaps toward the direction of the voice.

"_May_?" he nearly splutters in disbelief. Boy, he's never been so glad to run into her!

But she just has to see him like _this_. This is so looking bad for their rivalry. She must believe him to be below her…or perhaps not, May doesn't seem to be the type to think in that way.

May comes to his aid in little effort, and he is amazed by her skill. He wonders if that was one of the benefits of traveling with her brother and those two geeks he never liked. She offers him that cheeky smile of hers that he's been fawning over since the time they spent together in the Wynaut cave, though that's one of the things he's not willing to admit, because of his fear of rejection.

Jeez. Maybe he _is_ a weenie.

"Need a hand?" she asks, extending her free hand toward him. He eyes it warily, but then looks away.

"Nah, I've got everything under contr—"

His arm slips off the ledge, and before he falls to his imminent death, May catches him.

"Right…" she replies with an incredulous tone. After some struggle, she adjusts their position so that she can carry him safely up the mountain.

"You sure you're okay with carrying me? I'm heavy."

May sighs. "Don't worry about me. You're the one who decided to come up here without proper gear…"

"May Maple is sassing me?"

"You brought upon yourself. Must I say it again? You of all people who has a knack of knowing what he's doing twenty-four seven forgot to bring his hiking gear with him. You're such an idiot!"

"…"

"That's what I thought. Now you had better be thankful. I'm saving your sorry butt."

Talk about a role switch.

But he can't really argue with her. She's right. Mesmerizing.

Silence falls upon them for most of the way up. Drew is the first to break it. To his surprise, it comes as a shock to May, because he isn't one to initiate conversations much when he's usually comfortable with silences, even the awkward kind.

"So…you holdin' up?"

"Yes, I'm fine, as long as you shut up, _idiot_."

Something's telling him that she's never going to stop calling him that after this is over.

"Would you still take the challenge if this wasn't mandatory?"

"I _said_ shut up…huh? No, why?"

He smirks. "Figures."

"What does _that _mean?"

"I think I'd still take the challenge if it wasn't mandatory."

May stops climbing up the mountain and meets eyes with him.

"What, why?

"I don't know, because I'm an idiot."

"And that's the truth."

They continue up the mountain at a steady pace, because though she won't admit it, Drew can tell that he's a bit much to handle. He has to give her credit for her stamina, though, which leads him to wonder how long she's held him above the water after they crashed down that waterfall…because he blanked out. He wants to open his mouth to mention that time in Mirage Island, but decides against it. He knows how humble she is about that kind of thing, she won't admit that she had saved him before.

"Ah, here we are!" She swings her backpack over her head and tosses it onto the solid ground, before pulling her and Drew up onto it.

"Wow. I really owe you one."

"Oh, don't worry about it! It was nothing."

"Come on…who knows what would have happened to me if you hadn't come when you did."

"You know, you're right. Just fork over the Navel Island contest ribbon and we're even."

"Who're you, Harley?"

"Drew, you know I won't stoop that low. I could have just left you down there…"

"Touché."

May lets out a giggle, and he smiles at her. He can't help but wonder to himself how her face would feel if he touches it, but he squashes the notion. Now's not the time to be thinking about such absurd ideas. The girl just saved his life, though…

"Now what?" she asks after a momentary pause.

"We go back down, I guess…"

They meet each other's eyes with disdain at the notion, and then crawl over to the edge of the mountain. They simultaneously peer down below, and are intimidated by the distance…they come to a mutual agreement that perhaps it's better if they take a break before they begin the climb back down.

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**Funny, I expected that this would be longer, given the prompt, but I guess it's better off this way. I'm glad it didn't get any longer, too, because this was admittedly difficult. **

**In case anyone's confused, Navel Island is in the Orange Islands, and Ash and that gym leader Danny had to climb up the mountain as one of the gym leader's challenges before he can battle him or something like that. I made it so that all trainers who visit the island take the challenge to work with the one-shot.**

**'Til next time!**


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